Slow and Steady Wins the Closet Organizing Race

Ann was recently on a WDBJ News 7 at 4 segment on closet organization. If you’ve already watched the segment, you know that organizing your closet is as simple as following a few steps.

And the same can be true for any organizing project. It’s all a matter of preparation and follow-through. So if it’s easy, why don’t more of us do it?

The Intimidation of the Blank Page

If you know any writers or even if you can recall having to do book reports or other writing projects for school, you know about the intimidation of the blank page.

When a person first sits down to begin writing, the task can be daunting. That’s why your teachers taught you about outlining. Having a plan can really help in the process.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

The same is true with closet organization as well as other spaces. Sometimes, the simple act of writing it down first and knowing that you only have to complete one step is enough to reduce the intimidation.

Trapped in the Closet

So what does that mean specifically to closet organization? Well, like many projects, if you’re having a difficult time getting started, start with something you know you can do – go for the low-hanging fruit.

What do you know you can do in your closet? One easy task, to begin with, is to get all of the empty hangers together into one spot. 

Next, take out everything you know doesn’t actually belong in the closet. Now before you panic, you don’t have to decide what to do with it yet. Just get it out of the way so you can see your clothes. Get some kind of container to put the items in just to get them to the side. 

Sorting

There are a few ways to sort. We’ve already removed items that don’t belong in the closet.

We can take this time to sort through items to decide what we want to keep, what we want to store, and what we want to donate. But wait! If you’re not ready for that yet, we can do something easy – take out clothes that you won’t be wearing this time of year. This allows you to put off making decisions about what you’re keeping just a little longer. But once you’re done…

Time to decide what you want to keep, store and give away. Hopefully, at this point, you have built up some organizing momentum. You’ve seen that you can create space and can see the possibilities. So maybe, just maybe, it won’t be quite as difficult to give up what you don’t need.

When sorting items, remember, you’re not just getting rid of them. You are getting them to someone who will truly appreciate them. And if it’s an item you haven’t worn in a long time because it’s not your style, not your size, or even because it’s a little worn, you probably aren’t appreciating it. Someone else will. Even worn fabrics can be recycled. Did you know that most thrift store non-profits have agreements with fabric recycling programs that buy unsellable fabrics from the store by the pound? Ask a store employee to be sure.

Final Steps

At this point, you may want to go through the box of items that you know don’t belong in your closet and start bringing them to places in the house where they will be of use – or donating them. 

You will find now that your closet has a lot more space. It should be easy to put the items you’re keeping back inside of it. 

But how do you keep it organized?

Well, for one thing, you can organize your hung clothing by function i.e. business clothing, casual, plus by shirts, pants, dresses, etc. You can even organize further by color palette.

There are also many items at places like Bed Bath & Beyond and other similar stores designed to help you maximize space. But you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get organized. There are organization hacks all over the internet!

And if any of this is still overwhelming, stressful, or just over your head, remember: you can always call your friendly neighborhood organizer!

Thanks for reading!